Protein Skimming

[weiwencheng]

I have a 125 gal tank with a red sea in sump protein skimmer. The 125 has a pretty heavy fish load. I was wondering what are the advantages or disadvantages to adding a smaller skimmer to the already existing one. I have one laying around the house that used to be on a 20 gal. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[LoneStar]

Using 2 skimmers is not a problem. With a Red Sea skimmer, a tank that size, and having a heavy fish load, I'd definatly add another skimmer to help it out. From what I have heard, Red Sea's are so so in the skimming market. You can add the other to see how well both will work together. If they both do a good job of pulling waste out of your system, you should be set. If not, I'd look into another skimmer, one that would be over rated for your tank. A cheap reliable skimmer would be a ASM skimmer. As for the skimmer size, I usually get one that is rated at twice your system volume size. Most companies over rate their skimmers.....and since you have a higher than normal bio-load, you want one that will work smoothly, rather than one that just barely gets by.

[reeferRob]

Using 2 skimmers is not a problem. With a Red Sea skimmer, a tank that size, and having a heavy fish load, I'd definatly add another skimmer to help it out. From what I have heard, Red Sea's are so so in the skimming market. You can add the other to see how well both will work together. If they both do a good job of pulling waste out of your system, you should be set. If not, I'd look into another skimmer, one that would be over rated for your tank. A cheap reliable skimmer would be a ASM skimmer. As for the skimmer size, I usually get one that is rated at twice your system volume size. Most companies over rate their skimmers.....and since you have a higher than normal bio-load, you want one that will work smoothly, rather than one that just barely gets by.

If ya want ASM skimmer you'll have to find a used one probably, but since they aren't making them anymore you can get the Octopus Needlewheel in it's place. Check out: www.asmskimmer.com or here for the Octo: http://www.marinesolutionsinc.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22_35&products_id=48

[LoneStar]

From what I understand that asmskimmer.com url is not even associated with asm skimmer. It was bought out by a competing company. You can still buy new ASM skimmers

Premium Aquatics still sells them as do other online retailers.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ASM

[reeferRob]

ooops i never even noticed, cool thanks for cluein me in, I use an ASM and was thinking they were gonna quit makin them. :w00t :P

[apedroza]

You can also try euroreefs

[josephatmbimortgage]

coralife super skimmer is awesome, the bigger the better!

-Joseph

[weiwencheng]

do the asm skimmers need plumbing or can you attach a pump and put it into your sump? Thanks for everyones help

[LoneStar]

ASM skimmers are in-sump only. They will come with a pump (the size varies depending on which model you get).

EuroReefs are nice. Well built. Plus their line of skimmers is larger than ASM. ASM is just copied off of the standard EuroReef design. Plus ASM will run cheaper than EuroReef.

I've heard a lot of nice things from Coralife Super Skimmers as well. With those I'd get the biggest one you could afford!

[bozack]

yup, in sump only. I have a G3 on my 150 and it pulls good with a Sedra 5000 and better with the 9000
Probably gonna sell it soon once I see if this Euro Reef will fit in my sump

[erikharrison]

They sell the octos locally at AD in SA.

[caferacermike]

I'm a Euroreef fan for sure. ASM are good skimmers and are still produced. They are large in size so keep that in mind if it is to fit under your stand. Deltec are really nice but are extremely expensive. The octopus skimmers are starting to be noticed now that they've been around for awhile. They are cheaper imports from China where people are cheaper than robots. The ones I've seen have been extremely large for as small a tank rating as they come with. The 125g recirculating skimmer from Octopus (also they are actually imported under another name, it's something like pacific coast imports, http://www.pacificcoastimports.com/products.cfm?sid=52123922B75853111607002X118159553 7233D72T48T74T247V64308517W4201&c=24 There are 2 pages to choose from) are about the same size as my ER that is rated for 300 gallons. I'd skip the Coralifes altogether from what I've read, the only one worth owning is the 220, the pumps fail early on the other models. Sure some people will say "but you can mod the CSS skimmers to make them perform better". I say if you are going to spend $300+ on a quality skimmer it should work out of the box as many actually do.

[briancarlile]

Some of you might be interested to know that we had a Euro reef CS 135 stop running after 5 great years of service. To save money, we ordered the same sedra pump that they use on ASMs for like $80 and the euro reef works way better than it did before.

Respectfully, saying that Coralife Superskimmers are awesome is a bit of a stretch. i would choose a Euroreef CS 80 (80g rating) for $200 way before I would choose a 220g superskimmer whose price is comparable.

Just my 2 cents

[bozack]

Brian,

That's good to know as I am about to go from an ASM G3 with a sedra 5000 and 9000 to a EuroReef CS8-2 and was wondering if I should use one of the Sedra pumps instead.

[Enigma13]

A number of the Euro-Reefs actually come with Sedra pumps for the last couple of years. This includes the CS135 (previously the 6-2+) which uses a Sedra 5000 (same as an 8-2). The much older Euro-Reefs used all Eheims, while the new Euro-Reefs use a mix of Sedra, GenX, and Eheim.

My 6-2+ has a Sedra and generally works great.

[bozack]

Not to totally hijack but I think the new Euros use their new style needle wheel over their older style.
I wonder how the older Eheims compare to the older Sedras...

So maybe I can just leave my Eurp alone then

[briancarlile]

bozack, in my experiences with 4 different CS8-2 (aka. CS 165ish) the sedra 5000 is undersized for this 8" diameter skimmer body. The result is a lot of thick skimmate in the neck of the collection cup and very little liquid in the cup itself. if the cup is not cleaned twice/week the skimmer is not operating at peak efficiency. I think the CS8-2 is a $525 piece of junk and so do many people on reef central, some of whom believe that ER should have done a recall on this model. i have a unit running on a tank that I maintain at Nordstrom in Barton Creek mall that I would gladly trade for any CS6-2+ (CS135) in good shape.

[bozack]

Good feedback thanks
Been trying to decide where to go (upgrade) from the G3 now. It was actually ya'lls post about the extra skimmers you had that got me thinking....

[briancarlile]

When I get the time, I am going to order another Sedra 5000 and a 3/4" uniseal and drill a hole in one of our CS8-2's and add a second pump, of course I will photograph and post the whole process. I'll keep ya posted.

BTW we'll take a case of Coors light for the etss reef devil/dustcollector/paperweight :skeezy

[caferacermike]

Coors light? But don't they have those cool color changing cans? I doubt the Etss can color change.

[briancarlile]

Good point, no wonder no one was willing to pay $50.for it.